Four communist-era murder victims identified

Andrzej Kunert. Secretary of the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites (ROPWiM) during today's press conference: photo - PAP/Grzegorz Jakubowski

The names were revealed at a press conference held on Monday at the educational centre of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), the state-backed body charged with investigating crimes against Polish citizens.

All four men were resistance fighters who refused to lay down their arms following the close of the Second World War, continuing their struggle against Poland's Moscow-backed communist regime.

Among the newly identified victims is Stanislaw Kasznica, the last commander of the National Armed Forces (NSZ) resistance movement. He was executed in May 1948 following a trial at a Warsaw district court.

Also identified were Boleslaw Budelewski, who fought in the post-war Freedom and Independence movement (WiN), Stanislaw Abramowski (WiN and NSZ), and Tadeusz Pelak (WiN).

Some 117 skeletons were excavated from unmarked graves in Warsaw's Powazki military cemetery in the summer of 2012.

The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) cooperated in the project with another state-backed institution, the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites (ROPWiM).

DNA samples were collected from relatives of prominent victims in a bid to identify the remains.

So far, seven victims have been positively identified.

IPN plans to launch a second dig at Powazki this April. (nh)